A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the use of President Trump of the National Guard in Los Angeles was illegal, who would have to applaud the Sane and Democracy among us, of course, although there is of course an appeal.
During the trial, however, a careful but little made-up exchange occurred between lawyers for the state of California and Major General Scott Sherman, who was in charge of the federal national watch troops in LA, it should have been an explosive, red-flag moment that emphasized our militar leaders to shake their eid.
Sherman testified that he objected to the involvement of the National Guard in a show-of-force operation in Macarthur Park, where Latino families often come together.
That action, Sherman said, was originally planned for Father’s Day, a particularly busy time in the park. Internal documents showed that it was considered a “High risk” editing. Sherman said he feared that his troops would be pushed in confrontations with Burgers such as Border Patrol on that June was overwhelmed by the crowds on Sunday.
Gregory Bovino, responsible for the immigration efforts in LA for the border patrol, interviewed Sherman’s ‘loyalty to the country’, Sherman witnessed, because he only showed hesitation about the wisdom and legality of an order.
It is the pressure that “you are not patriotic if you do not blow through the law and break it and simply bend your knee and show full loyalty and loyalty to Trump,” California Atty. Gene. Rob Bonta said Tuesday. And it is a warning for what is to come while Trump continues to insist on military involvement in civil law enforcement throughout the country.
For the record, Sherman has served our country for decades and earns the prestigious Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal along the way along the way.
De MacArthur Park -operatie was volgens het Department of Homeland Security zelf weinig meer dan een performatieve weergave van macht “om de capaciteit en vrijheid van manoeuvre van de federale wetshandhaving in Los Angeles aan te tonen, volgens documenten die in de rechtbank worden gepresenteerd. Het werd de operatie Excalibur genoemd, ter ere van het legendarische zwaard van koning Arthur dat hem goddelijk recht om te rule, a point that was also included in judicial documents.
But that didn’t matter. Instead, Sherman was forced to show the kind of blind loyalty to a dear leader that you would expect to be demanded in dictatorships such as those of Noord -Korea or Hungary. Loyalty that confuses a duty to the Constitution – or transforms with Trump Trump. Military experts warn that Sherman’s experience is not an isolated incident.
“There is a horrifying effect against reducing or at least openly questioning any form of orders,” said Rachel E. Vanlandingham, a retired air force Lieutenant -Kolonel, me. She is the former lawyer of the active service at the US Air Force who now teaches the Southwestern Law School and serves as an expert in the National Security Act.
Vanlandingham sees the leadership of our forces under pressure “not to go to critical thinking, that they have to do as commanders and instead go to go along.” She sees Sherman’s testimony as a “telling look in the wear” of that crucial independence.
Such a shift in Trouw would undermine any judicial order that the army would keep from civil law enforcement, as a result of which Trump left exactly the boots on the ground force that he has sought since his first term. This is not theoretical.
By Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth, Trump has purified the highest ranks of those who have not been loyal to him. In February Hegseeth fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a black soldier who defended diversity in the armed forces. Hegseeth also has purified the Head of the Intelligence Service of the Pentagon, the Head of the National Security Agency, the Chief of Marine Operations, several senior female military staff and senior military lawyers for the army, the Navy and the Air Force. In August he fired the head of the American Defense Intelligence Agency after that general gave a truthful assessment of our bombing From the nuclear locations of Iran, which make Trump angry.
At the same time, the army is pushed further into civil affairs, and not just as a former police. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Hegseeth Ordered 600 military lawyers To serve as temporary immigration judges.
Not too deep in the complicated immigration system diving, but these are civil legal functions, another possible violation of the Posse Commitatus Act, Vanlandingham notes.
And further, can a military lawyer – trained and bound to follow orders – really act as an impartial judge in proceedings where the wish of the administration to deport is clearly known?
See you soon, goodbye to fair test.
That “looks like the state of siege if you have militarized … legal proceedings,” said Vanlandingham. “How can we trust that they make unbiased decisions? That is not possible.”
And although Sherman pushed back on a full military presence in Macarthur Park, that raid happened. Federal agents marched on, about three weeks after Father’s Day, with national guard troops that remained on the circumference in their vehicles. It was Hegseeth himself who gave the mission permission.
Sherman also said in the position that he was told that there were “exceptions” to the Posse Commitatus ACT – the law discussed in the process prevents the army from being used as civil law enforcement – and that the president had the authority to decide what those exceptions were.
“So your understanding is while [some actions] Is on the list of prohibited positions, can you do them under some circumstances? “Judge Charles Breyer asked.
“That is the legal advice I received,” Sherman replied.
“And the president has the authority to make that decision?” Greyer asked.
“The president has the authority,” Serman replied.
But does he do?
Breyer also asked during the trial: if the powers of the president to order both the command troops and to interpret the law are so limitless, “what can a national police prevent?” What could Trump’s Excalibur-inspired tendencies actually stop?
For now, it is the courts and ethical commanders at the middle level such as Sherman, whose commonsense courage and decency kept the army from Macarthur Park, at least for a while.
Men and women who understand that the oath they sworn are in our country, not the man who would be king.
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